Anthropic Plots Major London Expansion

Anthropogenic moves in a new office in London as it seeks to expand its research and commercial presence in Europe, linking leading AI labs to talent emerging from UK universities.

The company, which opened its first office in London in 2023, is moving into the same neighborhood as Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Meta, Wayve, Isomorphic Labs, Synthesia and various AI research institutions.

Anthropic’s new 158,000 square foot office will provide enough space for 800 people, four times its current headcount, allowing it to potentially overtake OpenAI, which itself recently announced an expansion into London.

“Europe’s largest companies and fastest-growing startups choose Claude, and we scale accordingly,” says Pip White, Head of EMEA North at Anthropic. “The UK combines ambitious companies and institutions who understand the challenges of AI security with an exceptional pool of AI talent. We want to be where it all comes together.

British government officials are reportedly trying to persuade Anthropic to expand its presence in London after the company recently fell out with the US administration. Anthropic has refused to allow its models to be used in mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, leading to an ongoing legal battle between the AI ​​lab and the Pentagon.

As part of the expansion, Anthropic says it will deepen its work with the U.K.’s AI Security Institute, a government agency that this week released a risk assessment of its latest model, Claude Mythos Preview. According to Politico, the British government is one of the few countries in Europe to have been granted access to the model, which Anthropic has made public only to certain parties, citing concerns about the potential for misuse by cybercriminals.

The growing concentration of AI companies in the same area of ​​London is an important step in creating a pathway for research to translate into AI products, says Geraint Rees, vice-provost at University College London, whose campus is near Anthropic’s new office.

“This cluster didn’t come from a planning document. It grew because serious researchers and companies understood that proximity is not a good thing,” he said last month, speaking at an event WIRED attended. “This is how the innovation system really works. It is not a clean, linear transfer from laboratory to market. It is more complicated, richer, more human than that.”